1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information reproducing apparatus for optically reproducing information recorded in a recording medium, and to the recording medium on which information is recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent development of the information-orientated society, the amount of information processed has increased remarkably, and there is a demand for a system capable of recording/reproducing a great amount of information. To meet the demand, there have been proposed various optical information processing systems capable of recording/reproducing information at high density. According to these systems, information is coded into optically detectable physical marks and recorded on a recording medium. By detecting the marks by optical means, the information is reproduced. Examples of such marks are projections, recesses and holes formed on or in the recording medium.
This type of optical system meets the present demand to a certain extent. On the other hand, however, there is a demand for a novel information processing system capable of recording data at high density. To meet such a demand, novel information processing systems have been widely studied and developed.